National Housing Law Project What's New?

Housing Preservation

• Written Statement of the National Housing  Law Project on Preservation Issues Before the Senate Subcommittee on Hearings (Oct. 9, 2002).
• Comments on Draft HUD Occupancy Handbook 4350.3 submitted by National Alliance of HUD Tenants (NAHT) and the Housing Justice Network/National Housing Law Project.  Download in PDF WordPerfect or Microsoft Word format  The text of the Draft HUD Handbook 4350.3: Occupancy Requirements of Subsidized Multifamily Housing Programs" is posted on this site here.  
• State and Local Initiatives:  Because federal laws no longer guarantee preservation of federally assisted use-restricted properties, many states and localities have provided further protections for these properties through supplemental laws and policies. This can be accomplished through either regulatory or programmatic means.  We've collected and posted information on these protections.
• A Guide to Challenging Conversions of Federally Assisted Housing in California

Public Housing

• Letter from Carolyn Peoples, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, to Heather A. Mahood, Long Beach, CA, Deputy City Attorney (April 26, 2004). The HUD Letter from Carolyn Peoples required the City of Long Beach to develop a "restitution plan" which specified in "clear and convincing" detail how the City will restore over the next three years all the lost opportunities for Section 3 employment and contracting with Section 3 businesses. Now available are two letters from the City of Long Beach which set forth the "restitution plan" as amended and letters from the HUD and the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles which objected to elements of the original "restitution plan."
• Comments on Revisions to the Public Housing Operating Subsidy Fund Program, 70 Fed. Reg. 19,858 (Apr. 14, 2005)
  Comments were submitted by NHLP, NLIHC, Wayne Sherwood, Greater Boston Legal Services, ENPHRONT and Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants and other HJN members. The comments focus on several areas. One they briefly critique the Harvard Cost Study and state that it should not be a basis of the operating subsidy rule. Two the comments set forth the goals of the Negotiated Rulemaking Act and conclude that HUD violated it when it unilaterally altered the proposed operating subsidy rule. Three the comments urge that the operating subsidy rule that was agreed to in the Negotiated Rulemaking process should be published for comment in the form and with all the elements of the formula that were agreed to by the "Neg. Reg." Committee. Four the comments urge that when the phase in period covered by the proposed regulations is complete in 2011, the rule should be subject again to a negotiated rulemaking process. Finally the comments support certain key resident concerns including the $25 per unit per year and the payment of operating subsidies for units used for resident organizations. Click here for a copy of the comments.
• Comments of the Housing Justice Network on the Proposed Rule on the Demolition or Disposition of Public Housing Projects
  HUD proposed to revise the regulations governing demoliton or disposition of public housing developments. 69 Fed. Reg. 75,188 (Dec. 15, 2004). The Housing Justice Network (HJN) submitted comments on the proposed rule objecting to several provisions, requesting the modification of the proposed rules, and suggesting alternative language. The comments focused on issues such as the certification regarding the housing authorities annual plan, standards for resident consultation, environmental review, on site replacement of units, and reporting of resident relocation. Click here for a copy of the HJN comments.
• Advocates' Guide to the Public Housing Community Service/Self-Sufficiency Requirement in California
• Earned Income Disregard (EID) Packet for Public Housing Voucher Program and Other HUD Housing Programs [Revised 1/12/05]
• New Mandatory Community Service Requirements in Public Housing
• Final Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook is posted on our website.
• The Housing Justice Network (HJN) and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) submitted comments on HUD's Draft "Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook" on September 16, 2002.  These comments are available in PDF or WordPerfect format. The text of the Draft "Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook" is still available at HUD's web site, and we post a copy here for reference.  
•  The National Housing Law Project, the Poverty & Race Research Action Council, Sherwood Research Associates and ENPHRONT announce the release of "False HOPE: A Critical Assessment of the HOPE VI Public Housing Redevelopment Program." Click here to download in Acrobat (.pdf) format.
• Letter from Mel Martinez, Secretary of HUD, to Public Housing Directors (April 16, 2002) (urges PHAs to be guided by compassion and common sense and to apply the one strike rule responsibly not rigidly) 
•   Letter from Michael M. Liu, Assistant Secretary of HUD, to Public Housing Directors (June 6, 2002) (reminds PHAs in applying one-strike rule that they are not required to evict for every lease violation and may evict just the wrongdoer). 
• Letter from Carole W. Wilson, HUD Associate General Counsel for Litigation to Charles J. Macellaro, Attorney, Re: PHA Evictions For Criminal Activity Proscribed by Lease Provision Mandated by Section 6(l)(6) of the U.S. Housing Act (August 15, 2002) (HUD legal opinion issued to the PHA for Yonkers, NY regarding Rucker and HUD regulations. In the opinion, HUD repeats its position that a PHA is not required to apply or consider the discretionary factors, but is free to do so if it wishes to do so. The opinion cites Oakwood Plaza Apartments v. Smith, 352 N.J. Super. 467, 800 A.2d 265 (2002), the recent New Jersey Section 8 case, and essentially says the position taken by the court there is NOT HUD's position.)  The opinion is also available at www.hud.gov/offices/pih.
• $25 Tenant Participation Packet. Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) that receive operating subsidies for public housing units from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are now required to use $25 per occupied unit per year for resident participation activities. This packet includes Questions and Answers (Q&A) about the new requirement, HUD forms and rules. It is intended for the use of housing advocates and clients.
• Amici have filed their brief on appeal in Rucker v. Davis, No. 00-1770 (U.S. Sup. Ct. filed 2000). Amici argue that the text of the HUD "one-strike" statute is silent on the existence of an innocent tenant defense, and that HUD's rule, which precludes the assertion of innocence to reviewing courts, is unreasonable.

Fair Housing

• An Outline of Principles, Authorities, and Resources Regarding Housing Discrimination and Segregation.This outline was created by Florence Wagman Roisman, Professor of Law, Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis. 
• Complaint in Queen King v. City of Blakely Housing Authority. 

Section 8

• Project-Based Voucher Program
• Source of Income 2005
• Voucher Funding 2005
• CBP&P and NHLP PowerPoint from Teleconference, April 14, 2004 (also available in PDF format), and List of Materials and Resources (Training materials from the teleconference on The Effect of FY 2004 Voucher Renewal Funding on Voucher Utilzation and Lease Up) NHLP Powerpoint
• HUD PowerPoint, Housing Choice Voucher Program for FY 2004 Appropriations Implementation (06143004) (HUD used this PowerPoint in an audio teleconference for housing authority staff)
• Wasatch Property Management v. Degrate, (Civ. No. D0 39656, Calif. Court of Appeals, 4^th District 1, Nov. 19, 2002):  The California Court of Appeal held that California Civil Code section 1954.535 requires a 90 day notice for a termination of the Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment Contract in non rent control jurisdictions, and that the tenant’s Voucher lease addendum requires good cause for termination of the tenancy in the absence of a change in the lease to eliminate the cause provisions. Click here for the brief. Click here for the opinion.  
• Earned Income Disregard (EID) Packet for Public Housing Voucher Program and Other Housing Programs [EID Law Enacted October 28, 1998]
• Protection Against Sources of Income Discrimination for California Section 8 Participants.
• Letter to California Public Housing Authorities Re: to the second 90-day Notice for Termination item.
• 90-Day Notice for Termination of Tenant-Based Section 8 Assistance in California and Implementation of Prohibition Against "Source of Income" Discrimination in California
• Eviction of Innocent Tenants Due to the Acts of Others and HUD's "One Strike" Policy

 

• NHLP Survey Reveals PHAs' Interest in Section 8 Homeownership
• First-Time Home Buyer Downpayment Resources--
  Nationally  
• Community Participation and Program Flexibility Are Key to Creating the Successful Section 8 Homeownership Program.  
  Third of a three-part article was added in its final form and other documents under this category were either placed in a different category or removed.
• Sample Administrative Plan and Supporting Documents for Section 8 Homeownership Program Under HUD's Demonstration Authority. 
  Item 3, Example Notice of Lien and Obligations was replaced and the last six items were added.
• State Employees Federal Credit Union, Section 8 Homeownership Underwriting Guidelines.  
• New Rules and Regulations.
• Tenant-Based Section 8 Renewal Rule, an updated version of an article by Barbara Sard that first appeared in the January 2000 issue of the Housing Law Bulletin describing the final regulations governing renewal of Section 8 tenant-based assistance contracts.

Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program

• We have added a new program area to our website on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program, currently featuring the topic of Good Cause for Eviction. Click here to explore that topic.

Rural Housing Service

• Final Report of the Task Force on Rural Rental Housing Preservation